Oops, thanks @nottelling, you are correct! And I loved The Gathering and The Forgotten Waltz, and the subject matter of this new one sounds wonderful as well. If you like Irish books, I just finished two by an author new to me that I thought were wonderful; The Spinning Heart and The Thing About December by Donal Ryan. They are somewhat linked but totally independent. Both are about Ireland in the post-land rush days of Ireland’s financial collapse. The Spinning Heart tells its story with a different narrator each chapter, and The Thing About December takes one incident alluded to in the first book and fleshes it out into a novel. I thought they were both excellent.
Thanks for the recommendations! I really love many Irish writers, especially Colm Toibin and Sebastian Barry (in addition to Enright). Brooklyn by Colm Toibin was one of my favorite books of the last 10 years or so, and I really liked On Canaan’s Side by Sebastian Barry. Oh, and I also love John Banville. I haven’t heard of Donal Ryan, so I really appreciate the recommendation. I hadn’t really thought of this before, but the contemporary Irish writers that I love seem to share a deep sense of melancholy and nostalgia and a focus on hidden depths in ordinary-seeming lives. Wonder what it is about the Irish psyche that leads to those qualities. (Or maybe I just tend to gravitate toward books like that no matter where they are from).
Has anyone ever read any Barbara Vine (or Ruth Rendell)? I heard an NPR piece yesterday, and I’m thinking about A Dark-Adapted Eye.
I loved Ruth Rendell’s Inspector Wexford series, although I have to say the last couple were sub par. Many of the Barbara Vine books are great as well, especially if you like psychological mysteries.
If you like those Irish books, you should like the Ryans. I can also recommend Solace by Belinda McKeon in the same vein.
I like the Irish book discussion. Big fan of Toibin and Colum McCann. have read one book by Enright, maybe The Gathering? I’ll look for these other books and authors.
Also on the Irish theme, Academy Street by Mary Costello is a new book that is drawing comparisons to Toibin. I just put it on reserve at the library.
The Spinning Heart by Donal Ryan is an excellent Irish novel that was published last year.
Thanks, @GoldenWest . I think I’ll give the Vine book a spin and if I like it, I’ll try one of the Inspector Wexford books.
I just finished reading [url=http://www.amazon.com/Extortion-Politicians-Extract-Money-Pockets/dp/0544103343]Extortion[/url].
It changed the way I look at politics by turning the money paradigm on it’s head:
Basically, politicians in both parties operate like organized crime, shaking down corporate donors and lobbyists for “protection money” that is used to advance careers and/or lifestyles.
The reason Congress is such an infuriating mess is that it is not in the politicians’ interest (either side) to solve problems, but to kick the can down the road with extortion opportunities at every kick.
Or the “milker bill” and the even more cherished “double milker” where the pol can extort both sides of the issue at the same time!
The techniques described in the book for legally converting campaign donation to personal enrichment are enough to make you scream.
The YouTube version:
Yes, the Vine book sounds great. I will add several of these Irish authors to my list.
There will be no more Rendell/Vine books; she died last weekend. RIP
@smdur1970 - Right, her death was the occasion of the NPR piece last week.
Her Vine books are very different from the Inspector Wexford series. The Vine books are much more psychological.
Has anyone ever read The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell? I’m about 100 pages in and struggling. It’s one that I want to finish and I wondered if it becomes any less complicated as it progresses.
For my birthday this year, one of my Ds (the one who always chooses unique gifts) gave me a book of the month from Loganberry Books in Cleveland, Ohio. Each month they choose a book and send it to me, gift-wrapped, so it’s a year long birthday celebration for someone who loves books, as I do. This particular book is of the science fiction genre, not usually my cup of tea but one of the things I love so much about this gift is that it will be books that I have not chosen myself and books that I probably otherwise would not have read. It is actually an interesting concept, that of a group of scientists who detect radio broadcasts from Alpha Centauri and the subsequent mission to locate this civilization organized by the Jesuits.
Just wondered if anyone else has read it. It isn’t a new book, I believe it’s from the mid-90s and it won several awards.
I think I’ve read one each, but haven’t been tempted to read more. I’m not much of a mystery person. Currently CS Harris is the only author I am reading regularly.
Alwaysamom, I haven’t read The Sparrow but several members of one of my online book clubs like it so much that I’ve been tempted.
A book about a missionary to aliens that I would highly recommend is The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber.
Thank you, @NJTheatreMOM ! I had hoped you’d reply! 
Hope all is well with you.
The two most recent books that I have caught up to are The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan and Still Alice by Lis Genova, the novel that was the source for the recent film adaptation The Valley of Amazement .. very long and although a good story, and interesting in the time/place it was set in, I found it draggy and then the very quick resolution at the end did not seem at all plausible to me. Still Alice I really enjoyed and thought the film a good adaptation. They dropped one character from the film who I guess they considered non-essential to the plot and the novel is set in Harvard/Cambridge as opposed to Columbia/Upper West Side of Manhattan. There is more in the book about the husband when he learns of the diagnosis and hunting down clinical trials and studies/data.
Just read a book from the 2015 (2014?) Lariat list that I really enjoyed - The Girl with All the Gifts. It’s not the kind of thing I usually read - it’s dystopian science fiction/horror - but the characters were amazing and I was actually surprised by the ending (which rarely happens for me). I finished it three days ago and I’m still thinking about it. I see where it is to be made into a movie next year.
Highly recommended - even if you don’t usually read this type of story.